License to Marry
by thefridaygirl
Summary: Hinata's last mission as a single woman is to get married… to Uchiha Sasuke, of all people.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **_Hinata's last mission as a single woman is to get married… to Uchiha Sasuke, of all people._

**Author's Note: **I wrote this out of pure self-gratuity because none of my ships in Naruto ever made it. A decade of following the series for naught. T.T I will try my best to update every week. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

**CHAPTER ONE**

_**Timeline: Six months after the end of the war.**_

"All the details you'll need are inside," Kakashi said, handing over a red-colored folder to a man draped with a dark cloak.

Uchiha Sasuke flicked the cover open with his thumb and silently pored over the missive. While he was reading, Kakashi scrutinized his face to catch any reaction, but by the time he closed the folder back his face was still impassive as ever.

"Any questions?" the silver-haired copy nin asked.

"…Why me?"

"Well… one, you're my favorite student, so of course I'd give this important mission to you. I can trust no one else," Kakashi said, his lone visible eye curving in mirth.

"Don't spew shit with me Kakashi," Sasuke growled, feeling his patience quickly ebb.

"Ah, but that is the truth!"

When Sasuke started to walk out of the room, Kakashi quickly backtracked in his teasing. "Hold up! There's no need to get all dramatic and all."

"Get to the point."

"Well, there was no one else. We're short of hands these days, and the council was desperate enough to allow you to join the mission roster. But of course," and at this, Kakashi shot him a conspiratorial wink, "you won't be going alone. It's the Land of Waves after all. It will be too cruel to send you to honeymoon-land without a honey."

Sasuke was now officially irked. He had forgotten how annoying Kakashi could be, given that in the past five years or so, their interactions had always been serious.

He glanced down at the folder again. The mission was to take down a large syndicate in the Land of the Waves, a place known for its warm weather and beautiful, powdery white-sand beaches. Lately the syndicate had grown big enough to control the government, and as part of the Five Nations' peacekeeping efforts, Konoha was given the dubious honor of dismantling the organization. The mission plan was, roughly, to sneak two nin into the country disguised as husband and wife on their honeymoon, then take down the syndicate from the inside.

"I don't need a partner for this," he stated to the silver-haired Hokage, tossing the red folder on the latter's table.

"Ahh but you will. The syndicate is becoming a little… antsy these days, especially with the heavy presence of peacekeeping forces all around. They know that they're a sore point to the goals of the Five Nations, which is why even though they're maintaining an appearance of normalcy, they're very thorough in checking who goes in their gates. It's been bothersome to infiltrate that country for some time now."

"And sending me is a wise idea because?" He, the infamous Uchiha Sasuke, was supposed to just waltz in through the security of a paranoid criminal organization?

"Here's the irony: no one there knows what you look like. You'll be going under an assumed name, and your darling wife too."

Now Sasuke wondered who the poor soul Kakashi would be assigning the mission to pose as his wife was going to be. Mentally, he did a run of the available kunoichi in the village. Sakura was off the list, as the pink-haired kunoichi was currently serving a tour of duty around the Five Nations, giving medical trainings and assisting in critical cases which had stemmed from the war. His erstwhile fangirl, the one from the Yamanaka clan, was also doing some assignment in the Hidden Sound. That left the girl with her hair in buns. Were there always just a few kunoichi in his batch? He somehow couldn't recall the rest. But he didn't like the thought of working with the hair-bun girl. She didn't strike him as someone… capable.

"I don't need a babysitter", Sasuke contended.

"Of course not! Your wife will be your babymaker!"

The ensuing silence was deafening. Sasuke glared at his former teacher, wondering what on earth possessed the man to be this playful with him. A murderous miasma soon filled the atmosphere in the room, and Kakashi's grin melted into grimness. He wisely decided not to tease the Uchiha any longer.

"It couldn't be helped," Kakashi sighed, his visible eye turning serious. He rested his elbows on his desk, linking his hands in front of his face. "You did some crazy things in the past, Sasuke-kun. And even though you're half the reason this world still exists, you really can't expect the village to just welcome you with open arms. They haven't forgotten, Sasuke. They still think that they lost some of their family and their friends because of you."

"Then they shouldn't have let me out of jail."

"That's not fair though", Kakashi replied. "You're not that man anymore, Sasuke. And with the state of Konoha now, we need your talents here more than ever. Your sentence, if you will, is best served here outside."

A soft pair of taps interrupted their conversation, and shortly after, Hyuuga Hinata stepped into the office. When Sasuke saw her, he remembered that there had been some Hyuuga children in his class back in the Academy. He remembered the boy with long hair and blank eyes… _Neji_ was it? He had been one of the least annoying, as well as one of the stronger members of his year. But the one who had arrived… he barely remembered her. Was she going to get in his way?

"Hokage-sama," she said, giving a small bow as she entered into the room.

"Ah, Hinata. Come now, no need to be so formal," Kakashi said, becoming cheerful again. "It's so nice of you to come so soon. I hope I didn't get in the way of your wedding preparations. Are you sure you're up for a mission?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. The clan is handling the wedding preparations. I would be more useful to the village in the meantime."

"Very well then," Kakashi smiled, and handed Hinata a scroll identical to the one handed to Sasuke earlier.

Sasuke watched the newcomer from the corner of his eyes. So, this was the woman who was going to be his… "wife" in the next few months. Sasuke soon observed her face take on a reddish shade. It annoyed him. He found it irksome that the kunoichi would be agitated by the mission details. To him, it was a sign that she had a personality that annoyed him more than Kakashi's - a weak one. Worse, Hinata's face became redder once she finished reading the entire thing. Sasuke caught her taking a small glance at him, then watched as she snapped her head back downwards and impossibly turned to the reddest shade he'd seen in a human being.

_Great_, he inwardly groaned. From what he'd seen, he was pretty sure the woman was going to get in the way in the mission. What was Kakashi thinking when he assigned her to this mission? Was he thinking at all?

"A-ano, Hokage-sama…" Hinata thought she would faint from the embarrassment. Never in all her kunoichi missions had she ever pretended to be someone's sweetheart, much less a wife! Tsunade had always known that those kinds of missions were never her strongest suit. But now, it would seem that Kakashi did not.

"Yes Hinata?"

"It says here that I'm g-going to be…"

"My wife", Sasuke finally snapped.

**End of Chapter 1.**

A/N: If you're still here, congratulations! You made it through my horrible writing. On that note, I would love to know if any of you can so kindly point me to a beta reader. I would be much obliged! 3


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

Hi everyone! Before we get started, I just want to give my thanks to those of you who left reviews in the last chapter. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one rooting for Sasuke and Hinata! I'll be honest though, my Sasuhina fascination was only born out of my support for Naruto and Sakura. I always thought Naruto and Sakura made a better pairing, especially when they got older and became more understanding and supportive of each other. I think a solid friendship is a good foundation for love! As of late however, Sasuke and Hinata somehow appeal more to me.

A special shout-out to **ManicSkies** – I will be addressing your question once they make it to the mission proper. :)

Once more, thank you so much to everyone who has kindly left a review. I'm not very good in writing, so your encouragement is very much appreciated.

Without further ado, here's the next installment. Enjoy!

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

Bad luck came in threes.

But the Hyuuga heiress thought that in her case, the connection between her poor fortune and the number three was taking it to another level. Hinata had been dumped. _Three_ months, _three_ days and _three_ hours ago, she had been let down – gently – by the man that she loved all her life. He was so kind and nice about the whole thing that the heartbreak didn't hit her until _three _days later.

In hindsight, there were _three_ signs that she should paid attention to that should have prepared her for Naruto's response to her confession, but sighing now to herself, of course she would have missed it.

She with the all-seeing eyes, Hinata mused bitterly.

The first sign was that they barely spoke to each other after the war. In hindsight, he may have been avoiding her. But at that time she simply thought it had something to do about both of them being too busy. After all, hadn't that been the reason why he also didn't say anything about her confession during the aftermath of Pain's attack?

After Naruto's short stint at the hospital, he had to be sent out on plenty of missions to help make up for Konoha's low manpower. Border patrols had to be reinstated, rogue criminals – who were all pouring out of the woodwork – had to be apprehended, and meetings with the village council regarding the fate of his best friend were high up on his agenda. Not her confession. But she had understood then, or so she thought. She too had little time for the matters of the heart after the war. Between helping out at the hospital, fighting the Hyuuga elders on the matter of branding her younger sister, and also being sent out on plenty of missions, she didn't get much opportunity to mull over her love.

The last time Hinata and Naruto interacted beyond polite greetings was at the war memorial. He had been supportive to her as she watched Neji's name being etched into the black stone, placing a kind hand on her back as she sobbed quietly into her hands. After that though their meetings became very scarce. Once or twice they ran into each other in the hallways of the Hokage Tower but other than hurried pleasantries, they didn't say much to each other. Hinata just didn't think that Naruto had it in him to avoid her.

The second sign was a little more obvious and a little more painful. It hit her like a one-two punch, the first one docking her for not seeing the first sign, and the second one being a harsh welcome to reality. The real reason why they didn't see each other that much was that he was seeing someone else.

Hinata was not the kind of girl who spent a lot of time listening to Konoha's gossip grapevine, but even she couldn't avoid what was coming out of the din: Sakura and Naruto had something going on. Whispers were going around the village, and it even made the evening news despite the lack of reliable sources to corroborate the story.

On a team dinner some nights later, everyone was on Sakura's case. Naruto was still away on a mission, and the medic nin was left to fend off the rest of Rookie Nine who were curious at the sudden u-turn of her affections from Sasuke to Naruto.

"We just happen to be teammates who spend a lot of time together!" the pink-haired kunoichi had explained to a leering Ino. "Seriously, don't buy into that crap!"

"Ahh, but the news even said you keep staying over at his apartment!" the blonde answered in a sing-song voice, throwing Sakura a knowing look.

"I'm only watering his plants when he's on a mission, Ino-pig!"

"Oh? I didn't know you guys were already on that level," Ino teased, further riling Sakura.

Beside Ino, Shikamaru warily watched the exchange, ready to do some damage prevention. His friends had an infamous track record of destroying restaurants in the past whenever they got together. There was that one time Sai remarked that Chouji was fat, and also that other time when Shino got drunk and his bugs flowed out of him like water breaking out of a dam. And who could forget that other time when Lee single-handedly tore down a yakiniku place when Naruto and Kiba let him try some "juice" to go with his barbecue?

_Not sure if her face is red because of the alcohol… or is she blushing?_ Shikamaru thought. That was curious.

"Shut up, Ino-pig. It's not true! Naruto and I are not dating! Not in a million years! Not if he's the last man on the planet, and not even if the human race were dying out! And besides, if you're going to tease him with anyone, it's got to be with Hinata!" Sakura pointed to girl in question, who blushed all the way to the roots of her hair.

Across Sakura, Sai ignored her speech and piped up as if he made an important realization. "I've read about this before. I think they call it, 'the lady doth protest too—"

Shikamaru quickly pulled Sai out of the way of Sakura's fist. He inwardly sighed. This was getting troublesome. Shino and Chouji were now restraining Sakura from destroying the diner while Ino went right back to teasing, joined by an oblivious Sai and a half-drunk Kiba. Tenten was trying to calm Sakura down, while Rock Lee was comforting Hinata, reassuring her that Sakura was in love with him and Naruto. Hinata in the corner just looked mortified. But she had seen it too, the blush that had crept up on Sakura's face when Naruto was brought up. It was like a shot to her heart.

Shikamaru face-palmed at the unfolding mess. Stupid Rookie Nine could never have dinner in peace. And stupid him too, for agreeing to go out with them despite their past experiences.

By the time the third sign came about, the final nail was moments away from sealing the coffin of Hinata's first love.

Hinata was on her way out of the hospital after finishing the last shift for the day. It was the dead of the night, and the heiress felt exhausted from all her rounds.

"Aren't you going home, Sakura-san?" she asked concernedly as she wrapped a scarf around her neck.

Sakura was still busy at the nurse's station, flipping through a thick medical tome. The study lamp on the desk illuminated the thoughtful frown on her face. "You go ahead of me Hinata-chan. I'm just going to finish up on some things. See you in a few days!"

Hinata stepped out into the cool, autumn night. When she reached the gate, she closed her eyes a little bit to inhale the cold air and felt in invigorate her. A small touch on her shoulder startled her. Hinata found herself staring into a pair of clear blue eyes and felt her face heat up.

"N-Naruto-kun!"

"Hinata-chan", Naruto smiled. He was dressed casually in a black shirt, and light brown coat. He looked different without the orange in his overall look – all grown up. She noticed that his hair had been cut short, no longer the spiky mess that it used to be during the war. In the moonlight he looked very handsome. Hinata tore her gaze away, "Can I walk you home tonight?"

Hinata felt all the blood leave her brain and flood to her face. Her heart hammered at the question.

_What was happening?!_

A heady mix of happiness, nervousness, and embarrassment filled Hinata. Was Naruto going to reply to her confession? Why now? Why all of a sudden? Was he going to date her? How did she look? And did she smell bad? She had not yet had the chance to bathe during her 36-hour shift, and she was sure that she looked like death warmed over. Hinata self-consciously ran a hand through her hair, hoping it would somehow tame any stray strands into place.

"Hinata-chan?"

"Ah, y-yes! Th-thank you Naruto-kun!" she managed to stammer out.

Naruto let out a low chuckle, and took the canvas bag that Hinata was holding. "Let me carry that for you."

They fell into step, walking the deserted streets and slowly making their way to the Hyuuga compound. Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, looking pensive like he was trying to think of saying something but couldn't come up with anything. Hinata just kept looking down at her feet, not trusting herself with the moment. She felt like she might destroy something

When the compound was finally in their line of vision, Naruto suddenly stopped in his tracks. Hinata, who was so preoccupied with not fainting, paused and looked back at Naruto.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto closed the distance between them. "I've been wanting to tell you something for some time now."

_Is he confessing? _Hinata wondered. She brought a hand to her heart, and tried to even out her breathing.

"I'll be going on a really long mission tomorrow, and I just thought I should let you know… about your confession… I thought about it. I thought about it a lot."

Naruto's gaze was clear, intense and open. Hinata averted her eyes from his, unable to take their gravity.

"Y-you don't h-have to give me a r-reply right away, Naruto-kun."

"You don't deserve to wait forever, Hinata."

_Not Hinata-chan_. Hinata felt her heart constrict a little.

"I've given it a lot of thought. I'm really grateful to you Hinata… you fought for me against Pein, saved my life again during the war, and you patiently waited for me while I sorted everything out. All my life you've been nothing but a true friend, cheering me on while everyone was pushing me away. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done.

But as honored as I am that you have chosen me to love… I'm sorry Hinata. I've given it all I can, but I can't love you the way you want me to."

Hinata felt like her heart just fell to the ground. A numbness started to fill her insides and she felt her head spin a little. She was rejected. Even though she felt like it was a possibility, the reality of it happening hit her like a juuken straight to the heart. Silence enveloped the air.

"But you'll always be my precious friend Hinata", Naruto reassured her. As if that was going to soften the blow.

A few more minutes of silence passed before Hinata could find her voice.

"It's okay," Hinata replied softly, her voice a notch higher. She bit her lower lip, willing herself not to run away and cry. "But if I may ask, why Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked like he was reluctant to continue the conversation further. He looked at his feet, and heaved a heavy sigh. In other social encounters, Hinata would have taken this as a sign not to push the dialog and bid a hasty goodbye but this time around she felt like she needed an explanation. All her life she always just accepted what was being said to her, but this was her great love. She needed to know the reason why if only for her to bear the pain of its ending.

"I… I love someone else."

"Is it Sakura?"

Hinata didn't bother to wait for the answer and just grabbed her bag from Naruto's hands. She bade him goodbye, not bothering to look back when Naruto called out to her, and walked as fast as she could to the Hyuuga Manor. She wasn't going to cry in front of him. Once inside she ignored the guards that were still up and ran straight to her room. She sank to the floor with her back against the door.

So that was it,

All those years, and that was it.

**End of Chapter 2**


End file.
